


Before the Banyans

by L_Esterel



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Ancient Cambodia, Angkor - Freeform, Khmer Empire, M/M, Mostly Historically Inaccurate, Not Canon Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, Soulmates, Ten is Cambodian, Time Travel, War, i dont know why, stop rewind turn back time, that was unintentional, wow i didnt realise
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:15:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24750679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/L_Esterel/pseuds/L_Esterel
Summary: Kun finds himself in ancient Angkor. He tries to make the best of his life, despite knowing that disaster is coming. Until Ten gives him a reason to save this ancient, lost civilization.
Relationships: Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Qian Kun, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Kudos: 1





	Before the Banyans

Kun wakes in a stone city, to hawkers calling in an unidentifiable language. The grey walls are lit by afternoon sunlight streaming through the west-facing window. He stretches, then stops, startled. This isn't his body. He casts around, confused. There's a woman panting on the bed. Hands picking him up. A man watching, smugness emanating from his smile. It scares Kun. Then he looks at himself. And screams.

He's a baby. He's just been born. But it wrong, so wrong. That woman on the bed isn't his mother. The man isn't his father. The room isn't a white hospital ward. They speak in a language he doesn't understand. The carvings on the walls look ancient. They aren't Chinese. Where is he? Reborn? He's not a phoenix. He's just another idol. What's he doing in the past?

The man is speaking, the woman cradles him to her chest. Kun struggles to make out what he's saying, if only to place the language. It sounds vaguely familiar. The speech patterns. He's heard them at night, in his dorm, when his room-mate calls home. But it's not Thai. It's something else. Similar but different. 

He stares at the room for clues. He's the most educated in his band, but is still far from learned. Nothing could have prepared him to wake up, reborn, in the past. The carvings are South-East Asian. The language is not Thai. Kun struggles to remember the other countries; Vietnam, Burma, Cambodia... He needs to see the city.

The man (he's not Kun's father and will never be) picks him up and brings him to the window. He speaks in that foreign tongue. Probably says something like this is your world, your heaven, it will be yours someday: things parents always say to their children. But he's sure it's not I love you; it's clear the man only wants to use him. Kun cranes his tiny neck and peeks at the city. It takes his breath away.

It's gorgeous. Sweeping boulevards of red dirt full of people in light colorful clothes, elephants, high stepping horses. Towering stone temples. Banyans offering the streets shade. Musicians at corners. Far away, there's a huge building, three towers that dwarf over the entire city. He's seen that before. Where? When? 

In another life. He came here once, with his parents, in his time. He remembers being overawed, deeply moved by the majesty of an ancient city. Then he knows. He's in Angkor. Angkor, before it was engulfed by banyan roots. Before lost hunters stumbled upon its broken remains. Long long before tourists came on pilgrimage with their gaudy clothes and disrespectful cameras. 

He sees a bustling city. He sees beauty, lost culture, forgotten traditions. He is horrified, because all of this will be lost. The Siam are coming, soon. They will live in the beautiful city they never built. They will be overthrown. Khmer will reign again. But they will return. And everything will be lost.

He doesn't know why he's here. He can't stop the future from coming. He's just a child, lost, this time in another world, another time. He can't call home, listen to his parents speak comforting Mandarin. He can't drown himself in his band-mates' love. He's alone. 

Perhaps, perhaps he's not. Maybe his friends are here too. Maybe. But he doesn't let himself hope. Even if they are, it'll be shell of them, ancient Khmer Yukhei, not the Xuxi he knows. And Ten... Stop, he chides himself, you're making it worse; it already hurts enough.

He falls asleep and dreams of smiles and teasing, shining black eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> The Siam are actually ancient Thai, but I wanted Ten and Kun living together in Angkor so I made Ten Khmer, who are the ancient Cambodians.


End file.
